Shilin Night Market is considered as the biggest night market in Taiwan. The main draw of the market is food and more food, and that was our purpose as well.
Since our hotel was not near the MTR we took a taxi and got dropped a little farther away from the main market. The driver gave us some tips on which stalls were popular and where to walk also.
Our first purchase was this Giant Takoyaki for NT49 (P75). They were cooked in front of us in special takoyaki pans the likes I have never seen before. The takoyaki was as big as an orange and had some different ingredients inside like corn and ham. The size of the single takoyaki was almost as big as an orange. We shared one order and continued walking on.
I couldn’t resist buying these grilled dried squid. that the vendor cut up into strips and slipped into a paper pouch. I happily munched and chewed them while walking.
Further along that same street we chance upon Prince Cheese, as proclaimed by the staffs t-shirts. A queue was forming up at the stall which piqued our curiosity. Since not knowing really what to order, we picked one from the laminated menu thrust upon us. The concoction is apparently a potato croquette, deep fried then cut open in the middle where in they put an assortment of ingredients like corn and ham then slathered with a cheese sauce that fills the container to the brim.
Taiwanese Sausages (NT40 or P60 each). After a little stopover at an amusement center to appease Lauren, we walked some more in search of more food, and chanced upon grilled sausages.
Fresh cut fruits abound depending on the season, since it was winter time when we were there, strawberries were aplenty. Each cart has lots of different fruits displayed and they will gladly give you a try. You just point which fruits you want they cut it up and weigh it and sprinkle red plum powder. You should not miss tasting the plum powder sprinkled on the fruits, it takes the taste to another level. We even took home some brown plum powder since we were not able to find the red ones.
This stall sells all kinds of duck parts from webbing, legs, necks, and meat. They are apparently very popular so we had to get a try. You choose which ones you like from the display, which are already dried, then they will deep fry them again before serving. The duck had a great smoky flavor, had we had enough stomach space, we would have went for more.
After all that food, we ventured to the main Shilin Nigh Market building, boasting of more than 500 stalls.
Tian Pu La (sweet not spicy). A weird name for something that is more of a deep fried fish tempura. It had a siding of fruit sauce similar to the ones the put on the oyster cakes.
We also ordered oyster cake and a seafood stew that a lot of stalls had cooking and people were ordering. The oyster cake was not as good as the one from Ximending and the seafood stew had too big pieces for my tastes.
Peanut candy. Althought hat last picture is not of the peanut candy. I put it there to show that they make the products the sell on site. Free trials are aplenty so you can have a taste of most of their products before buying. After having a taste we immediately bought packets to bring home
After that, we had a mediocre teppanyaki dinner before heading back to our hotel via taxi. In total we spent around 2 1/2 hours in Shilin and nearby areas constantly eating. We would have wanted to have more food but we were filled to brim.
Shilin Night Market
How to get there
Jiantan MTR station on the Danshui Line
Taxi
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after our US trip i will be making our taiwan itinerary na! so exciteeddddd